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BELOVED – Failure On

Why BELOVED hasn’t blown up in the underground scene yet is a difficult fact to understand. The powerful melodic hardcore found on their Solid State debut, Failure On, explodes and crescendos with more fury and precision than most bands can muster out in three or four albums. What separates this album from the vast majority of other genre-blurring bands in this day and age is their ability to swoop deftly from an alternative rock melody into an absolutely devastating hardcore breakdown. Opening track “Failure On My Lips” is a perfect example of this quality, as it begins with a deceiving radio-friendly melody, but jumps into a harsh POISON THE WELL-like double bass onslaught before you can say “holy shit!” The trend is nowhere near from stopping there, however, because the following nine tracks are arguably among the most diverse in the hard music scene today. “Only Our Faces Hide” comes out swinging and doesn’t let you up, nor does the following track “Rise & Fall.” The album’s highlight, however, is in the unbridled fury of “Death to Traitors,” which can be most adequately described as the aural equivalent of being mauled by a sabretooth tiger. Heavy, melodic music simply does not get any better than that track, and the album seems to think so too, as it slightly drops off with a few weaker songs after that point. Regardless of that, “Inner Pattern” and “Allure” add a noteable finishing touch to an album that is strikingly good from one of the most promising bands to emerge in recent years. (Solid State)

oh man, this record is just truly incredible. never before have i heard such an amazing combination of the hardest hitting music and enthralling melodies. if you havn’t heard this yet, you’re missing out.